Police are focusing their attention on a house with a smashed car outside as a man fights for his life in hospital.
Neighbours say gun shots rang out through the night on Naylors Drive in Mangere and a man is in a critical condition.
But police told the Herald they had "spoken to a number of residents in the area, including the immediate area, and there is no suggestion that shots were fired at that address".
A 1997 Mitsubishi Galant parked in the driveway of the property where the man's assault is believed to have occurred had a smashed front window, along with multiple open bourbon cola cans on its bonnet.
At 5pm today, two women were escorted by a police officer, in an unmarked car, back to the house on Naylors Drive.
Peter Kalolo lives next door to the house where the assault occurred and said he heard some angry people in the street directly behind their row of houses.
"I heard someone swearing in the back street as the police arrived this morning. It was that house," Kalolo said.
A man who lives directly over the road from the house where the altercation occurred said he heard a fight last night.
"There were screams and shouts last night, fighting out there," he said.
Another man just off Naylors St said he heard a loud bang around 3am but nothing else.
"I just heard a loud bang early this morning, 3 or 4 am, like a metal sound," he said.
"There are a few houses around here that like to drink, they like to party, enjoy themselves. That house is one of them."
Another man who lives in one of the neighbouring streets said "There's fights around these streets all the time".
Others commented on the aftermath of the altercation last night.
"There was clearly evidence of a fight," a man at the scene said today.
"It looks like a bullet hole is in the windscreen.
"Police have taped off the section, with a patrol vehicle across the driveway, one officer could be seen taking notes at the scene.
"The front porch light was turned on, there were also multiple broken pieces of wood across the section."
A police spokeswoman said: "The car is a small part of a much larger scene examination. Police's focus is on the victim, the witnesses to the incident and people who had left the address."
Police confirmed they were alerted to an incident on Naylors Drive around 3.50am this morning.
A man was transported to Middlemore Hospital in a critical condition. He was subsequently transported to Auckland Hospital.
A witness claimed gunshots were heard around midnight and again at 1am today and 3am.
Police have cordoned off the street today and a scene examination is under way.